The Relationship Among Children’s Reading Achievement, Parental Attitudes Towards Reading, and Parental Reading Habits

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among children's reading achievement, parental attitudes towards reading, and parental reading habits. Fifty-seven students enrolled in grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 of a suburban parochial school in Western New York State and their parents constituted the subjects of this study. Specific questions to be answered were: 1. Does a strong relationship exist between parental reading habits and their child's reading achievement? 2. Does a strong relationship exist between parental attitudes towards reading and their child's reading achievement? .. 3. Does a strong relationship exist between parental attitudes towards reading and parental reading habits? Parents were asked to respond to two questionnaires; one to measure parental reading habits, the other to measure parental attitudes towards reading. A total score was obtained for each questionnaire by giving a weighted value to each response. Parental reading attitude scores and parental reading habit scores were compared to their children's Stanford Achievement Test scores using a Pearson Product-Moment Correlation. Results revealed that a significant correlation did not exist between parental reading habits and children's reading achievement. Results also revealed no significant correlation between parental attitudes towards reading and children's reading achievement. Further analysis of the data showed that no significant correlation existed between mothers' attitudes towards reading and mothers' reading habits, although a moderately strong correlation did exist between fathers' attitudes towards reading and fathers' reading habits.